Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-16
DAILY HERALD.
TO AID INCARCERATION.
Stanford,s Plan of Free Railway
Fares.

well known, holds the keys of immi-
grafton to this State in its hands.
When, under the stress of bitter COM
petition, it reduced the through emil
grant rate to a merely nominal sum
last year, it brought to our shores
thousands of persons of limited means,
among them many able-bodied young
men, who came here to grow up with
the country and share in its pros
perity. 1t is known for fact that the
general run of these immigrants, who
came here solely for the reason that
they could come cheaply, have settled
down in our midst, some of them to
join the army of hewers of wood and
drawers of water, but the great ma
jority to till the soil and assist in de-
veloping the agricultural resources OF
the State.
1t is the knowledge of this that has
set Senator Stanford to thinking. He
has taken up train of thought which
probably no other railroad President
in America has ever hit upon before.
This idea is free immigration to
California.
It is proposed to do away entirely
with the tax levied by the railroad on
incoming settlers, SO far as the lines
of the Southern Pacific Company are
concerned. The Eastern railroad
companies will be asked to join in the
scheme, and make their fare to this
class Of passengers as low as they can
without suffering any loss in the way
of expense. Senator Stanford believes
that he can secure the cooperation of
the other lines in an arrangement by
which each will accept its proportion
of as low rate as SIS between Chi
cago and this city.
The present rate of fare is $47.50, so
that the reduction would be about 80
per cent. Between Ogden and this
city the Southern Pacific Company
will haul immigrants free, and it is
likely that the Union Pacific will be
prevailed upon to make nominal
rate, 80 that from the Missouri river
the total expense of passage would be
about IS, not including meals, al
though the giving of the free table as
well as railway fare has been consid-
cred, and may yet be adopted.
Senator Stanford knows that this
plan is bold one, and is likely to
subject him to the ridicule of Eastern
railroad magnates, who never do any
thing for nothing, unless question of
policy is involved. He will show,
however that indirectly the plan is
not wholly an unselfish one, but that
the selfishness is of that enlightened
order which benefits all parties con-
cerned.
The Senator's plan has not been
fully elaborated and time must be
taken in filling in the details, now
that the rough sketch has been
drawn. If adopted, as it is very
likely to be, the scheme will be based
ON these conditions, which must rule
the traffic under consideration.
First-The free-fare privilege will
be exclusively for immigrants and
their families.
Second-It must be shown to the
satisfaction of the railroad company's
agents that the travellers stay in Cali
fornia is not to be transient; other
wise full fare must be paid.
Third-The passenger must contract
with the company not to transfer his
ticket to others.
Fourth-He must give some proof
of his intention to take up permanent
residence on this coast.
Although the third condition is
seemingly simple one with which to
make people comply, it is the danger
involved in the possible transfer of
tickets which alone causes the leading
spirits of the Southern Pacific Com
pany to hesitate in putting the free
ticket system in force. They know
from experience that where local fares
are high and through fares are low the
scalper is bound to steal insidiously
to the front and shave off revenue
wherever he can. How much more
revenue he would succeed in shaving
off were free through fares to be set
against high local fares only skilled
railroad financier could estimate.
To prevent scalping, the contract Of
the passenger with the company is
not held to be sufficient, as past ex-
perience has fully shown. Unless the
most careful watch is set upon it the
system would no doubt fail on this ac-
count, and the railroad company could
not afford to have the privilege of free
travel abused by its transfer to per-
SONS not entitled thereto within the
meaning of the plan proposed.
One scheme by which this evil
might be avoided, and which has al
ready been suggested to Messrs. Stan
ford, Gage and Crocker, is that in
stead of allowing the free-ticket hold
ers to string along the route and have
ample opportunity for transferring
their privileges, the immigrants should
come in parties on set dates, the
tickets being good for passage only up
to certain day, and each party being
in charge of an agent who saw to it
that no such transfer was made.
1t is more than probable that such a
plan as this will be adopted, and that
the knotty point of scalping will be
overcome. Unless they see their way
clearly in this matter, the general
plan will not be put in operation by
the railroad people.
Senator Stanford feels that, while
inviting the criticism OF that part of
the travelling public which is to re-
ceive no benefit from the plan, no real
injustice will be done. Those who
are able to pay frst-class fare would
not ride in third-class cars, even if
they were free, while the majority of
the so-called "emigrants" ride in
them merely because they can
get cheap rate, and they
are not privileged to growl at free
travel under the conditions by which
it is to be granted. At least, SO the
railroad people hold, and it would ap-
pear that they are not far from right.
In speaking of the subject to a
friend recently Mr.. Stanford said:
81 had rather that 10000 people
came to this State at $15 rate of fare
than that 50,000 came at $780,"
In this one sentence the Senator's
views on the matter are tersely
summed up, and the fact is fully set
forth that he sees very clearly how his
roads would receive in time the bene-
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